SACRAMENTO -- Occupy Wall Street protesters may be long gone by November 2012, but labor leaders are hoping that voters' anger toward the wealthy won't be going anywhere as the election season unfolds.

For that reason, the California Federation of Teachers and a coalition of liberal allies are moving forward with plans to place a millionaires tax measure on the ballot next year. Millionaires, in this case, are defined as individuals whose annual income is $1 million or more.

Josh Pechthalt, the president of the 100,000-member teachers union, said the month long protests that have spread around the globe have bolstered his group's plan to tax millionaires, which has been in the works since the beginning of the year.

He's hoping to sell other labor groups and Gov. Jerry Brown on the plan to boost tax revenues for schools, colleges, social services and other programs, but he says his group will move ahead without them if they're not ready to catch the tax-the-rich wave.

"With the Occupy Wall Street actions, the American public is being educated on the disparity that has gotten so profound, the crisis that has gotten so bad," Pechthalt said. "We're committed to this and we want to convince others it's much needed and the right time to do it."

The teachers union can expect a big, expensive fight if it continues its push to tax the wealthy, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

You’ all come to Texas and bring your money with you. Glen Beck is in Southlake, and I see that GE is setting up a couple of factories in Ft. Worth. If Perry were smart, he would be touting stuff like this.

California already has that. My fellow Californians foolishly passed a ballot initiative several years ago which was a millionaire’s tax. After it was enacted, a new tier was added to the income tax rates just for those who earn 1M per year.

you will have them living in CA on 5.9 months out of the yr like Oprah does. let them do it, Ca will never vote for a conservative and you will see them have less tax revenue as this is done. we need to show America how it doesnt work

California pols might find just a little bit of recent history instructive. And what happened to the delegation that went to Texas to learn about "job creation"? Did they forget what they learned on that trip?

Millionaires Go Missing

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates.

No doubt the majority of that loss in millionaire filings results from the recession. However, this is one reason that depending on the rich to finance government is so ill-advised: Progressive tax rates create mountains of cash during good times that vanish during recessions. For evidence, consult California, New York and New Jersey (see here).

The Maryland state revenue office says it's "way too early" to tell how many millionaires moved out of the state when the tax rates rose. But no one disputes that some rich filers did leave. It's easier than the redistributionists think. Christopher Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, notes: "Marylanders with high incomes typically own second homes in tax friendlier states like Florida, Delaware, South Carolina and Virginia. So it's easy for them to change their residency."

All of this means that the burden of paying for bloated government in Annapolis will fall on the middle class. Thanks to the futility of soaking the rich, these working families will now pay Mr. O'Malley's "fair share."

I know of only two certain outcomes for increasing money to the “Education Establishment”; The taxes go up and the education unions get more in mandatory dues. To date there has been NO, ZIP, NONE correlation between improved education and increased money.

Of course if the education unions get more money they will give more to their favorite political party who will then help them pass more taxes for more money to the education unions and ...

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posted on 10/19/2011 4:32:09 AM PDT
by SES1066
(Vote in 2012 for OUR CIVIL RIGHTS not the Left's!)

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